OMA completes its First Scientific Building, the New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec
31/08/2017.
[PAR] France
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
OMA’s first scientific laboratory and engineering school, Lab City CentraleSupélec in Paris Saclay, has been completed on budget and schedule, and will open to students this September to commence the academic year.
Overview. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Staircase. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Detail. Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Auditorium. Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Interior view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Existing site with loose islands. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Image courtesy OMA
Site plan. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Image courtesy OMA
Plan fllor level 0. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Image courtesy OMA
Plan fllor level 1. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Image courtesy OMA
Floor level plan 2. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Image courtesy OMA
Floor level plan 3. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Image courtesy OMA
Floor level plan 4. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Image courtesy OMA
LabCity, model. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Frans Parthesius. Image courtesy OMA
LabCity, model. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Frans Parthesius. Image courtesy OMA
LabCity, model of modular system. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Frans Parthesius. Image courtesy OMA
Overview. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Lateral access detail. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Lateral view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
Roof view. New Engineering School of CentraleSupélec by OMA. Photograph © Philippe Ruault. Image courtesy OMA
The architectural approach to Lab City is based on an urban grid of independent blocks which house laboratories and classrooms. As the blocks increase in height, their roof terraces provide open workspaces for students and views to the heart of the structure.
A large translucent roof covers the public areas of the school (streets, terraces, and center square), creating a beautiful, fully daylit interior city space. The building is intersected by a diagonal street, which extends the public route connecting the university with the surrounding campus.
A large translucent roof covers the public areas of the school (streets, terraces, and center square), creating a beautiful, fully daylit interior city space. The building is intersected by a diagonal street, which extends the public route connecting the university with the surrounding campus.
Ellen van Loon, OMA’s partner-in-charge: “The most exciting aspect of this project was to invent a new spatial concept for a globally leading engineering school, at a time when multiple scientific disciplines must vigorously mix and collaborate to remain competitive.”
CentraleSupélec, formed in 2015 by a merger between Ecole Centrale Paris and Supélec, is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles specialized in engineering. Situated at the heart of the future district Joliot-Curie, for which OMA has developed the masterplan, the new building is part of a 22ha campus that will place the university alongside research institutes and major tech companies.
Description of project by OMA
In an era of privatization, cities are facing a major challenge: investment in the public domain depends increasingly on the private sector. As a result of this reframing of the collective agreement, the role of architecture is often reduced to the visual impact of its shape and surface rather than contributing to a new educational, social and civic dimension. The competition launched by the Ecole Centrale Paris for the design of a new engineering school has become the perfect opportunity to explore ways to answer this demanding challenge.
Laboratories are typically planned as linear buildings, a large box divided by endless corridors. Such a typology creates a "blackout" of the urban conditions; the building becomes a gigantic wall due to its extremely isolated and internalized programs. We can instead imagine laboratories as a collection of discreet parcels in an open plan grid; in this way, a city can accommodate endless configurations of programs and activities. This method provides a stable framework for constantly changing requirements; the program may be reconfigured or intensified as necessary.
This re-contextualization implies freedom to formulate new types of learning styles that promote community, plurality and diversity of the population within a dense field of knowledge, while ensuring the pure operation of the engineering school as an educational incubator. OMA's design integrates urbanism with the school, supplanting the previous homogeneous experience of the campus.
Thus, the concept of a Lab City was formed. The architecture of the Lab City generates an open urban school, with creative disorder framed under a structural skeleton. By creating a main street, cutting diagonally across the Lab City, the design allows a seamless experience between the building and its surroundings, providing a convenient public route between the future heart of the neighbourhood and the future subway station. Around this urban spine, the program is spread in different buildings of various typologies and sizes, organized on an urban grid served by secondary streets. A unique lightweight roof covering the entire complex completes the scheme by creating a strong link between the different buildings and allowing "external" protected spaces to be used freely all year long.
More information
Architects
OMA. The project was led by Ellen van Loon and project architect Edouard Pervès.
Competition team
Fred Awty, Felicity Barbur, Clément Blanchet, Eugenio Cardoso, Alicia Casals, Phil Handley, Helena Hiriart, Li Huang, Didzis Jaunzems, Sangwoo Kim, Pierre-Jean Le Maitre, Maria Aller Rey, Ida Stople
Design development team
Project architect.- Clément Blanchet. Edouard Pervès. Saskia Simon. --- Team.- Pedro Pitarch Alonso, Anton Anikeev, Tolis Apostolidis, Gabriella Bandeira, Lourdes Carretero Botran, Jonathan Bourhis, Matthieu Boustany, Paloma Bule, Eugenio Cardoso, Alban Denic, Gilles Guyot, Christopher Hayman, Aleksandar Joksimovic, Cristina Martin de Juan, Min Hong Khor, Sangwoo Kim, Lina Kwon, Pierre-Jean Le Maitre, Elida Mosquera Martinez, Ioana Mititelu, Edmondo Occhipinti, John Paul Pacelli, Marcus Parviainen, Maria Aller Rey, Ana Rubin, Kristin Schaefer, Jad Semaan, Timur Shabaev, Saul Smeding, Lingxiao Zhang.
Construction team
Project architect.- Edouard Pervès. Site Manager.- Mauro Altana --- Team.- Joanna Fregnac, Glaucia Hanne, Cristina Martin de Juan, Iris Maass, Pierre-Jean Le Maitre, Vitor Oliveira, Saskia Simon
Collaborators
Architectural support.- Clément Blanchet Architecture. Landscape.- D'Ici Là. Engineer.- Bollinger+Grohmann, ALTO Ingénierie, DHV. Consultant.- APEX Brian Cody, DAL, DUCKS, Cuisine et Concept, Polygraphik. Models.- Vincent de Rijk. Imagery.- Artefactory
Client
CentraleSupélec
Venue
Plateau de Saclay - Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Dates
Competition.- 2013. Schematic design - Design development - Construction Documentation.- since 2014. Completed.- 2017
OMA. Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is a leading international partnership practising architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. OMA's buildings and masterplans around the world insist on intelligent forms while inventing new possibilities for content and everyday use. OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia.
OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.
OMA’s completed projects include Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), Fondazione Prada in Milan (2015); G-Star Headquarters in Amsterdam (2014); Shenzhen Stock Exchange (2013); De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), New Court, the headquarters for Rothschild Bank in London (2011); Milstein Hall at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York (2011); and Maggie's Centre, a cancer care centre in Glasgow (2011). Earlier buildings include Casa da Música in Porto (2005), Seattle Central Library (2004), and Netherlands Embassy in Berlin (2003).
Ellen van Loon
Ellen van Loon joined OMA in 1998 and has led several award-winning building projects that combine sophisticated design with precise execution. Some of her most significant contributions include the new G-Star Headquarters in Amsterdam (2014); De Rotterdam, the largest building in the Netherlands (2013); New Court, the Rothschild Bank headquarters in London (2011); exterior and interior design for Maggie's Centre near Glasgow (2011); the Prada Transformer pavilion in Seoul (2009); Casa da Musica in Porto (2005), winner of the 2007 RIBA Award; and the Dutch Embassy in Berlin (2003), winner of the European Union Mies van der Rohe award in 2005.
Van Loon is currently working on Factory, a large performing arts venue for Manchester; a new building for Brighton College in England; and the home of the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen.
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